Dilemma: now egretting using nickname names for first two children

Hi all. I've been lurking on these boards for a couple of months now, but have only just created an account.

Here's my dilemma. I have two boys named Charlie and Sam--that's it. It started with Charlie. We thought about giving him the "full" name Charles but didn't like it. We figured we'd just call him Charlie anyhow, and Charlie works well as a stand-alone name, so we went with just Charlie. Then we had our second boy. Again, we loved Sam, but didn't like Samuel so much. So he was just Sam. Now, I'm about 32 weeks with my third (not sure of the gender), and I'm regretting that we didn't use more formal names for the first two because I find them tricky to match.

I feel boxed in with Charlie and Sam, especially when it comes to boys names. There isn't really a third male nickname-name that I love, and everything else that I like feels mismatched to me. I tend to like old-fashioned names.

Husband doesn't have much input AT ALL, and I'm feeling pretty stuck on this.

Firstly, I think Charlie and Sam are fine and very handsome! I don't think you should feel pressured to use another nickname name, especially if you don't love them. And I don't know where you are in the world, but I'd recommend looking at the popularity charts for England and Wales as there's currently a trend for vintage nicknames

I can see the dilemma that you're having. I don't think that you're necessarily boxed into using a nickname name for your next child, but I agree that a name like Daniel, which has an obvious nickname that people might expect you to choose rather than using it in full, might not be ideal.

For girls, I really like the previous suggestions of Ivy, Jane and Jean.